Falsely charged? Millat Times editor harassed, 'fringe' communal elements protected

By Abhay Kumar*
Shams Tabrez Qasmi, the editor-in-chief of the multilingual digital media platform, ‘Millat Times’ and alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband, has been booked for tweeting videos of the communal clashes in Kanpur on June 3.
The Kanpur police on June 5 filed an FIR against Qasmi and seven others under IPC sections 505 (offence committed in a place of worship) and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), and section 66 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008.
Among the eight names mentioned in the FIR, seven, including Shams Tabrez Qasmi, belong to the Muslim community, and one is a Yadav.
Violence erupted in Kanpur after the Friday prayer on June 3. Members of two communities indulged in stone-throwing, following a call given to observe a strike in protest against the derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammad made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma on a national TV channel.
One of the videos that Qasmi shared on Twitter on Friday evening is of stone-throwing directed at the Muslims in the presence of the police.
“In the FIR, my name is mentioned. But I have not received any notice from the police”, 29-year-old Qasmi said over the phone.
Shams Tabrez Qasmi was born in 1993 in Raipur village (Nanpur Block) in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district on the India-Nepal border. His father, Zakir Hussain, is a farmer. From the backward region of north Bihar, Qasmi went to Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the most prestigious madrassas in India.
Apart from a degree in Maulvi, he also completed a diploma course in English from Deoband. He further studied Arabic, doing his graduation and postgraduation from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He also has an MA degree in Urdu from Maulana Azad Urdu University, Hyderabad.
He started his journalistic career by sending articles to Urdu newspapers. In 2016, he launched a news website, “Millat Times”. Two years later, he launched a YouTube channel, which became hugely popular. His reportage, analyses, and interviews were appreciated by a large number of viewers.
“Millat Times” has its office in the Jamia Nagar area in New Delhi. Gradually, “Millat Times” started publishing news and opinion pieces in three languages, that is Urdu, Hindi and English. The channel is closing in on the big milestone of a million subscribers. It has so far uploaded over four thousand videos.
One of the strengths of Shams Tabrez Qasmi lies in his proficiency in multiple languages, that is Urdu, Hindi, English and Arabic. Apart from his command of languages, he has also exhibited a good understanding of contemporary political and social issues.
While the mainstream media, particularly the news channels, have largely become the mouthpiece of the ruling establishment, the ordinary people, particularly those belonging to the marginalized sections, are looking for alternative platforms. ‘Millat Times’ is one such platform. Despite facing a lack of resources and infrastructure, Shams Tabrez Qasmi and his team have managed to raise several issues related to Muslims, Dalits and other marginalized communities.
I met Shams Tabrez Qasmi for the first time around three years ago. Some of my writings in Urdu have been published by ‘Millat Times’. On several occasions, he has invited me to his panel discussions. As an active member of the Press Club, he organizes programmes on issues related to the marginalized communities. Last year, he played an active role in holding a function on the great Urdu journalist Maulvi Mohammad Baqir at the Press Club, New Delhi. When the celebrations to mark two hundred years of Urdu journalism (1822-2022) were being held across the country, he, too, helped organize an event at the Press Club.
Since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist BJP came to power, attacks on religious minorities and historically marginalized communities have increased. The mainstream media has either ignored communal riots, mob-lynching, attacks on minorities and other marginalized sections, and misuse of power or reported on these incidents from the point of view of the ruling parties. In these difficult times, ‘Millat Times’ is one of the alternative media platforms to have carried on its fearless journalism.
Apart from reporting, Shams Tabrez Qasmi hosts a daily talk show “Desh Ke Sath” from Monday to Friday. This show has been widely appreciated for its focus on relevant public issues that the mainstream media tends to ignore.
It is unfortunate that the communal “fringe elements” are given protection by the government and its police, while a brave journalist exercising a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution is being harassed by falsely implicating him.
---
Independent journalist and writer, PhD (modern history) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Distributed by Dalits Media Watch, this article was first published in Forward Press

Comments

Anand said…

I know Shams Tabrez.
He is doing a fine job as a jurnalist
and is concerened about the unity of India.

It is a travesty of justice that young and bold individuals like
him shuld be harassed by the state.

June 14, 2022

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog